Interest Rates

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the word "patient" in some form eight times last week, but the tone of his speech is not far different from prior Fed bosses, according to CNBC's Michael Santoli.
What Happened
Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in December 2015...

As Fed officials intimated and economists predicted, the Federal Open Markets Committee unanimously voted Wednesday to maintain interest rates between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. Its statement assured constant rates for some time.
What Happened
After four rate raises in 2018, the Fed reiterated a...

For nearly a decade, ultra-low interest rates created a near risk-free borrowing environment to carry inventories. But the climate has changed. The federal funds rate, the rate that banks charge one another for overnight loans, sits at 2.5 percent, its highest level in 11 years. Most Fed-watchers...

Last year, U.S.-listed exchange traded fund took in $313 billion in new assets, short of 2017's record inflows, but still good for the second-best year on record.
While the Federal Reserve boosted interest four times in 2018, three of the year's top 10 asset-gathering ETFs were bond funds....

Investors thinking that 2018 was a wild year on the political stage may want to brace for an "even more intense" 2019, CNBC's Eamon Javers said.
The Main Points
The political landscape next year will be characterized by four factors, Javers said:
Democrats gain power of the...

Investors clearly didn’t get what they wanted to hear from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped to their lowest levels of 2018 after the Fed raised interest rates for the fourth time and said investors can expect two...

(Wednesday Post-Fed) After putting the pedal to the floor on rate hikes this year, the Fed appears ready to ease off a bit in 2019.
As the Fed raised rates Wednesday for the fourth time in as many quarters, it projected only two for next year. This comes amid a murky backdrop of tariff wars,...

The economic boom cycle remains in the late stages, but recent macro events now supports a bullish stance on Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), according to Bank of America.
The Analyst
Bank of America's Ross Gilardi upgraded Caterpillar from Neutral to Buy with a price target lifted from $140 to $...

Investors got what they were hoping for from the Federal Reserve Wednesday when Chairman Jerome Powell said interest rates are currently “just below” neutral.
Powell’s statement comes after he was harshly criticized by President Donald Trump this week, who appointed Powell as...

Housing stocks continue to show weakness, with the homebuilder-tracking exchange traded fund SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) down around 25 percent since the start of 2018.
Economic data released Monday was cause for more concern, showing that sentiment among homebuilders fell eight...

Homebuilding stocks as a group are down more than 30 percent since the start of 2018 due to multiple concerns, and the Street's 2019 outlook appears to be overly optimistic, according to Deutsche Bank.
The Analyst
Analyst Nishu Sood made the following rating changes:
Lennar Corporation (NYSE:...

To most Americans, a $21-trillion national debt and a $779-billion federal deficit may seem like they have no impact on day-to-day life. The more debt the U.S. racks up, the higher the chance that it could impact everyday Americans.
The Numbers
The latest U.S. budget deficit numbers are...

Among the economic headlines for investors heading into Q4 is the drop in government bond prices and the corollary increase of treasury yields to new recent highs. Spurred by the Fed’s first ever September interest rate hike, as well as indications of another increase before the year is out,...